Halloween

Lily, David and I had a nice Halloween. I couldn't get Lily to wear her angel dress, but got her to wear the wings and halo for a few minutes. Unfortunately, David is dealing with a cold, so instead of trick or treating, Lily and I had door duty and passed out candy. Lily's favorite costume was a devil with red eyes. She talked about the red eyes all night and even this morning! I'm just glad that she didn't realize that was supposed to be a scary costume.

At least she tried the wings and halo!

Lily's favorite yard decoration! This was next door and Lily would talk about "Kiki-stein". When he was deflated, Lily would say "Kikistein sleeping?"
When they inflated him Lily said, "Kikistein up? There he is!"

Lots of stuff going on

This is a busy week for me. I have lots on my calendar. I must admit, I'm a bit stressed out about how much is going on, but I'm pretty good about scheduling and time management, so I'll get through it all.
I had my Midwife appointment on Tuesday morning and unfortunately the water birth was not approved. The malpractice company said "no". Stupid malpractice people! This is so common in many other countries, yet we can't have that as an option? I don't know if being in a conservative city is a part of this. My Midwife said that we won't break any rules, but if I happen to be in the tub when it's time to push and I simply cannot get out, then that's what happens. Hrmm, maybe that is just what may happen!

I'm getting ready to host a Bookclub tomorrow night. We are reading "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons" by Lorna Landvik. I really enjoyed this book. Not a "chit lit" like I thought it would be.

Tonight we were supposed to carve pumpkins, but David is possibly fighting a cold and isn't feeling up for it. I had this cold last weekend. It's not a *bad* cold, but not fun either. So, perhaps we can "carve" out some time tomorrow or Friday to do so, or we'll just be simple and place plain ole pumpkins out on Friday.

Just watched the 30 minute Obama segment tonight. Yea, I'm pregnant. Every family he focused in on made me cry. I wish I were a many times over multi-millionaire to try to fund programs to help all those people in need. I truly hope Obama is elected and that all these changes he speaks upon can happen. We need to get back to the "Yes, I am my brother's keeper" mentality. I feel like it's moved so far away from that way of thinking. I hear many people speaking from the "at least it's not me" mentality. Just think what our country would be like if we truly wanted the best for our neighbors and thought about the goodness for everyone and not just ourselves.

Anyway...more to do, better run.

Random Stuff

As I said before, life is about the same with my family. I'm feeling pretty good (except I feel like I'm fighting a small cold or have some kind of allergies). I have been working at my very part time job quite a bit this week. I work with a local Financial Advisor company. I just help them around the office. I've been helping them put together their quarterly reports and newsletter. I actually used Publisher for the first time and did okay!

Lily did okay at school. She did cry when I dropped her off, but the teacher said she only cried for 5 minutes and then did a really good job. I guess she was showing off her knowledge of the Sesame Street characters today.

Lily is talking quite a bit more this last month. She is putting together sentences really well and has now started asking "Why?" and "That?" She loves to look around the room and point to things, tell me what they are, or ask "That?" She's all about pumpkins at the moment. Good timing! We still have yet to buy a pumpkin, but that is on our list for this weekend.

Last Sunday we had dinner with our friends, Melanie and James. This is their son, Ian playing with Lily. A couple of days ago, Lily was eating and asked for "Baby Ian"? I thought that was awesome she remembered him!

31 weeks preggers!

David and I tried to take a family shot, but Lily wasn't into it.

End of the weekend

This week/weekend went by quickly for me. Nothing much going on, but normal, daily life.
Tonight we had dinner at our friends James and Melanie's house. They have a 10 month old, Ian. Ian and Lily played well together. This made me happy, as I'm a bit nervous about the reaction Lily will have to her little brother. I do have pictures of the kids playing, just have to download them. No big plans this week either. I'm taking it a bit easy as I'm feeling quite pregnant the last few days. I'm feeling good over all. No more pain anywhere. Just feeling huge.

Sharing cookies and milk with Dada

Watching the squirrel on the porch

Wearing Mama's hat

Hanging out with Mama

Living Honestly

David and I have made a pledge to live honestly, as in financial honesty. We have moved to a cash budget system and it's working really well for us. I got this idea from Dave Ramsey. I listen to his radio show several times a week. He differs from me politically, but I really am in tune with him financially. As most of you know, I love to watch Oprah too and she has had several financial shows on lately. Mostly with Suze Orman. I do like what she has to say for the most part as well. Another person I enjoy listening to on XM Radio is Jean Chatzky. She seems quite reasonable and has wonderful ideas for budgeting.

David and I figured out on average what we need to spend on groceries, Target runs, household, etc. Then once a month we pull out the money for those items. Once the money is gone, we are done for the month in that area. I think we will also get rid of cable and change internet providers (we found one to be cheaper than what we currently have). We talked about maybe taking Lily out of school as it's 18 dollars each Friday she goes to school, but I'm still thinking about that one. I may take that out of my spending cash as I find it important for her to go and it's good for me to get some time off as well. We'll see.

Even though we have to make some sacrifices lately, I'm feeling much better living this way. I feel more authentic. I've moved so far away from buying things to make me feel better or to keep up with my friends. The last two months or so, I have told my friends that I can't join them for dinner or some outing because I want to be honest with my money. Once a few things change in our lives, I know we will get to go out to eat, see a movie, get a babysitter and have some extras for fun money. But until those changes come, David and I will live financially honest!